


Let Us Be Courageous

by Triangle_Goddess



Series: Let Us Be [2]
Category: Avengers, Danny Phantom
Genre: M/M, king!Danny Fenton, swagger bishie, takes place during the first avengers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:00:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 20,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23671963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Triangle_Goddess/pseuds/Triangle_Goddess
Summary: Right after Danny becomes the ghost king, he gets a little visit from Agent Barton, who talks to him about joining the Avengers Initiative. Eight months later, that plan is put into play, and Danny has to figure out how to work with this loud and rambunctious group of superheroes who don't know how to work together.
Relationships: Dash Baxter/Danny Fenton
Series: Let Us Be [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/926091
Comments: 23
Kudos: 350





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone!! I know this is a long time coming. This is the sequel to Let Us Be Brave, and takes place during the first Avengers film. The next installment, Let Us Be Fearless, will take place during Avengers 2, but not to the movie script. I'll be using madsthenerdygirl on FFN if I could use her Age of Ultron Redux (https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11281884/1/Age-of-Ultron-Redux) and she gave me full permission, so a big shoutout to them for their generosity. Definitely go check it out if you haven't already. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy!

**8 Months Ago**

"I want to talk to you about the Avengers Initiative."

Danny looked at this so-called Barton, blinking once. Twice. Four times, before his tired, sleep deprived brain was able to comprehend what he had just said.

"I'm sorry, the what?" He asked.

"The Avengers Initiative. Follow me."

Danny instinctively followed Barton to his and Dash's own kitchen and sat down, trying to rub the tired out of his brain. Needless to say, it didn't really work.

"Coffee?" Barton asked. Danny only nodded into his hands, holding back a large yawn.

"I'm here on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D." Barton said. "Which is a government branch made to be the last line of defense against who knows what. Usually aliens or supervillains and such."

"What does the government want with me then?" Danny asked, putting an edge to his voice, immediately becoming more awake. He didn't like the government. Not after what they did to him.

Barton noticed this, and stepped around it.

"I said I was a part of the government. I never said you were going to be, so calm down."

"It's my house, I don't have to be-oh, thank you," Danny said as Barton placed a cup of coffee in front of him. Dash crossed his arms.

"What's going on? Why do you need Danny if you've already got S.H.I.E.L.D?" He asked.

"Our director thinks we need a response team. Considering he's got pretty decent instincts, I kind of agree with him. It wouldn't be a bad idea to have some feet on the ground and take care of things while the politicians try to take their heads out of their asses," Barton replied.

"So I'm gonna be your secret weapon or some shit?" Danny asked, his frown returning.

"No," Clint said, taking a drink straight from the pot of coffee. "You're not going to be the only one. We've got a list of people that we think would be good for the team."

"Like who?" Dash asked.

"Classified. That is, unless you agree. But I'm sure you'll really enjoy the people you might have to work with."

Danny looked at Barton and sighed, going over his options. This was going to be a long night.

**Present Day**

"Mr. Fenton," a balding man in a pristine suit greeted him at his door while he was leaving for work. "My name is Agent Coulson. Your job has granted you paid leave. It's time."

"Time?" Danny asked. "Time for what?"

"S.H.I.E.L.D. needs you. Meet me on the roof when you're ready."

Danny just looked at him as he walked away, turning back to the inside of his apartment he shared with his husband, Dash. It still felt really good saying that. His husband. Eight months and the feeling of saying it still made him smile. He knew it always would.

He sighed and shook his head, trying to shake off the whiplash from the events that were just placed in front of him. But then he smiled. He needed to be positive about all of this, even if he didn't really want to leave Dash.

"Hey, babe!" He called. Dash poked his head around the corner, spatula in hand and his bright pink apron tied around his waist.

"What's up?" He asked. Danny walked towards him, setting his lunch box on the counter.

"Do you remember that guy from like eight months ago, right after we got married, and he was saying-"

"-Do you mean Barton? Yeah, I remember him."

"Well, they…It's time. They need me to go in."

Dash's face fell, and he turned off the stove and set his spatula down. He turned back to Danny, giving him that concerned husband look, and hugged him.

"Stay safe, please," Dash said quietly. He sounded vulnerable, and Danny knew this must have been heart breaking for him. What if something happened? What if Danny didn't come back? What if Danny came back, but as a ghost and not a halfa? So many things were probably swarming in Dash's head right now, and Danny couldn't blame him. It was like the battle with Pariah all over again.

But…If he was being called in, that meant the Earth needed him. Not just S.H.I.E.L.D.

"I will," Danny replied. "I'll call you whenever I have the chance."

"You better," Dash said, trying to lighten the mood. He pressed his lips to Danny's, letting them linger for a moment before finally letting Danny go. He watched as Danny sighed and psyched himself up momentarily. He looked like he didn't want to go, and Dash really didn't want him too, either.

He let his invisibility and intangibility wash over him before flying up to the roof to meet

Coulson. A million things swarmed his mind. Should he let the secret identity out of the bag? Did they need him as Fenton, or as Phantom? And if they needed him as Fenton, was it for ghost hunting or astronomy? He had now way of knowing.

When he got there, the agent was standing there, this wind blowing his jacket around a little bit, but otherwise he looked almost inconspicuous. Danny let his invisibility and intangibility go. The man didn't flinch, as he looked behind him at the small ship, then back at Danny.

"Ready?" He asked nonchalantly.

"I guess," he replied. "Lead the way."


	2. Chapter 2

Even though he had drank two cups of coffee already, he was still sleepy. It was, after all, only eight in the morning, and patrol had been long and grueling. So he leaned into the corner of the ship and made himself comfortable. It would be a while before they reached their destination, so he was going to sleep.

Or, at least he tried to.

As soon as he closed his eyes and laid back, Coulson slapped a tablet into his lap. Danny's body jerked at the surprise. His eyes flew open, and a smug smirk was on Coulson's face.

"You might want to do your research before taking a nap," he told him. Danny didn't reply. Instead he turned on the tablet. He was flipping through the files of his team members for a moment, just skimming them really, when Coulson gently took it from him again. "Let me help you," he said.

Danny was shocked at what happened next. Coulson zoomed out on whoever Danny had been reading up on, pressed a couple of buttons, and then opened up his hand. When he did that last motion, all of the individual partners of his soon-to-be team members shot up from the tablet.

"Here," he said, giving the tablet back to Danny. "That should help."

"Uh, thanks," Danny replied, at a loss for words. Coulson just nodded, and returned to the front of the jet.

Danny didn't doubt that it would help him, but at the same time he felt like he could have read it normally, and it would have been the same. But the videos that popped up, playing on a loop? He knew that would have never been possible had he continued.

He glanced over at Stark's, putting that one aside for the moment. The hero was pretty public about his hero and business life, on top of Tucker never shutting up about him. He already had a general understanding of what he did, so he would save him for last.

Next he moved onto his favorite childhood superhero, Captain America. The Steve Rogers. He was pretty excited, and still couldn't quite wrap his head around being able to work with his literal hero. His file talked about his skills, his knowledge, and his personality. It also briefly talked about the changes the serum put on his body, like the calorie intake he needed, and how his memory improved due to it as well. His, in Danny's opinion, was definitely the most interesting.

Then he pulled up Dr. Bruce Banner's. Danny had already done some research on the gamma scientist a few years back when the whole Harlem thing happened. An explosion happened during an experiment, thus providing the Hulk, a literal manifestation of anger to form. It was your standard superhero origin story, and Danny was glad that he could relate to unconventional powers due to a lab accident. Maybe their similar traumas could be something they bonded over.

It would definitely be more relatable than the seven PhDs he had.

After he was done skimming through him, he pulled out the only ones that officially worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. Danny didn't really want to go through theirs. He resented the government in general for what one branch had done to him years ago, and he was aware that not every government agency was bad necessarily, but not a single one could be trusted. Not even one that was made by Captain America's ex girlfriend.

There was nothing really interesting about the spies, Black Widow and Hawkeye, a.k.a. Clint Barton, who had recruited him eight months ago. They were skilled in combat, and were incredibly smart, obviously. The one thing that seemed interesting was that Hawkeye was deaf, and the only reason that was even noteworthy was due to combat reasons. Danny would have to brush up on his sign language just in case.

Then there was Thor, god of thunder. There was apparently an incident in some fuck-all state Danny didn't bother remembering, where an Asgardian artifact rampaged through the small town because his brother, Loki, was throwing a tantrum. Danny had had experience with Asgardians before. Only once, right after he became king. He found that he didn't really vibe with Asgardians all that much. Thankfully, though, Thor was just a potential member. He wasn't even on Earth.

Finally, he made it to the one and only Tony Stark. He was Iron Man, had been for years after the terrorists kidnapped him. There wasn't much there he didn't already know. Bad coping mechanisms, doesn't work well with others, and a super genius.

He skimmed through it a couple more times before finally setting the tablet aside. He sighed and rubbed his eyes before settling back once more and drifting off.

Coulson looked at Danny as the man relaxed, his breathing slowing down considerably, as he fell asleep. He looked truly exhausted, with deep bags under his eyes, and a five o' clock shadow. Coulson didn't doubt his lack of sleep, either due to his other half or his nightly patrols. Looking at the sleeping hero, he was reminded of his time as a new spy. He couldn't help the smile that crossed his face, if only for a moment.

Steve wasn't happy about this. Several things bothered him. First off, he was still unfamiliar with the world around him, and this kind of threw a wrench into the process of him catching up. But that was more of a minor thing compared to the Tesseract itself. He was so indescribably frustrated by the situation. He had died, or at least made the sacrifice, after the Tesseract had been lost and the Red Skull defeated. Two weeks later and he's stopping yet another mad man who wanted the Tesseract's power for their own.

So if he was a little grumpy when he got onto the plane, he doubted anybody would blame him.

When the runway to the jet dropped down, he was greeted with a balding man in a suit, who was smiling nervously, and practically shaking with excitement. Steve inwardly sighed. He wasn't upset that Coulson was probably a fan. In fact, he was honored. But he was just so tired, and he didn't know if he had the energy to go through more than a small conversation.

"Captain America, reporting for duty," he told the man, holding out his hand. The agent took it, gripping it tightly and giving it a small shake before switching out his hand with a piece of technology he'd seen several younger people walk around with. He's pretty sure it's called a tablet.

"My name is Agent Coulson. It's an honor to be working with you, sir," the agent told him. Ah, so he was a fan. Steve smiled politely at him as he took the tablet. Coulson led him inside of the smooth, dark interior. Most of the light came from the windows, illuminating the closing runway and the sleeping man in the corner, who Steve thought was dead until he took a breath after an agonizingly long amount of time.

"He's another recruit," Coulson explained. "His file is in there, along with your other team members. If you need any help I'll be just right over here."

Coulson took a few steps back, hovering behind the pilot, but Steve knew that his self-control around the living legend probably wouldn't last very long. Either way, he opened up the tablet and started flicking through the files. The first one he came across was Daniel Fenton's, also known as Phantom, who just so happened to be the man sleeping across from him.

_Name: Daniel "Danny" Fenton_   
_Codename: Phantom_   
_Status: Half dead, half alive_

_He possesses the ability of flight, intangibility, invisibility, energy blasts from his hands, shields, and cryokinesis. He can shift between a human form (black hair,blue eyes, pale) and a ghost form (white hair, green eyes, tan)._

_According to the Guys in White, Fenton [Redacted]._

Steve skipped through all of the redacted bits. There were nearly two entire pages of them.

_As of eight months ago, Fenton has become a leader in the ghost world, extremely powerful, details to be determined at a later date._

Steve looked back up at Fenton, who had started to lightly snore. He had a solid build, and a few scars littering his skin, as well as strange, faded, blue-black markings criss-crossing over his skin. He wondered what kind of injury made that. He also wondered if Fenton was actually a ghost. He was breathing just fine, it seemed. That meant he had to have a heartbeat, right?

Steve sighed and continued. He could always ask later. Unless, maybe, Fenton was uncomfortable with those kinds of questions. Steve knew he would be if he was in the man's shoes. He flipped through the others. Iron Man, Howard's son, Thor, the Norse god of thunder, and a couple of spies from S.H.I.E.L.D.

He finished off with Banner, leaving it looping on a video of the Hulk tearing some city up. He rubbed his eyes and looked around, setting the tablet down in his lap. He felt stiff and out of place. He thought it was weird that the plane made virtually no noise compared to the bombers during the war, where the only thing they made was a gross rattling noise that struck fear into the hearts of the London residents.

He straightened up a bit to shake off the memories of the war and turned his attention back to Fenton, the so-called ghost. Steve was a skeptic. Being raised Catholic will do that to a person. That didn't mean he wasn't open to the idea, however. He;s seen a lot of crazy, out-of-this-world type of shit. If Fenton could prove it then he had no problem being on board with the idea that ghosts exist.

Steve probably would have jumped down that mental rabbit hole further if Coulson hadn't slowly made his way over to him. He didn't sit, but he did hover, and in a way that was just as weird. Luckily, though, small talk fixed everything. Mostly.

"So, this Dr. Banner tried to replicate the serum they used on me?" He asked the agent.

"A lot of people were," Coulson replied. "You were the world's first superhero. Banner thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine's original formula."

"Didn't really go his way, did it?" Steve said as he watched the Hulk tear apart a city.

"Not so much. When he's not that thing, though, the guy's like a Stephen Hawking." Steve looked up, giving him a mixed look of confusion and expectancy to elaborate. Coulson read the look perfectly. "He's like a smart person." Steve nodded, and went back to looking at the screen. Coulson inched away, and then back again.

"I gotta say, it's an honor to meet you officially. I sort of met you, I mean I watched you while you were sleeping." Steve inwardly sighed again and stood up, walking to stand behind the copilot. He wanted to look out of the window, and have the illusion of space between him and Coulson because honestly? That was more than a little weird. He must have been a bigger fan than he was letting on.

"I mean, I was present while you were unconscious from the ice," Coulson elaborated, trying to explain himself. You know, it's really-just a really huge honor to have you onboard this…" He let his sentence fall short, and before he could find the word, Steve spoke up.

"Well, I hope I'm the man for the job."

"Oh you are, absolutely. We made some modifications to the uniform. I had a little design input."

"The uniform?" Steve asked. "Aren't the stars and stripes a little…Old fashioned?"

"With everything happening, and the things that are about to come to light, people might just need a little old-fashioned."

Steve looked at Coulson seriously. He already had a decent sense of the problem due to having already gone through this, but this was the 21st Century. Everything was bigger now, and Steve had no doubt in his mind that that included the magnitude of the world's problems.

He sighed and looked over at Fenton, who was still passed out. He watched him, counting the seconds-almost minutes-between his breaths, and briefly wondered if what his file said was true.

If he really was half-dead.

His lips pressed into a thin line as he looked out the window again. Then he saw it.

In the water was a giant platform with people going about their jobs, running this way and that. The jet must have been moving at incredible speeds, because before he knew it, they were touching down. As Coulson talked with the pilots, Steve walked over to Fenton to wake him up.

He had barely touched his shoulder when Fenton jerked awake, eyes wide, and suddenly panting. When he looked around, though, he relaxed back into the chair, looking at Steve.

"Hi," he groaned, rubbing the side of his face. "Name's Danny."

"Steve," he replied, holding out his hand. Danny took it, and Steve almost dropped it just from how cold he was. But Danny didn't seem bothered by it. "We're landing now."

"Oh, okay. Thanks." Danny smiled briefly at him before stretching, arching his back like a cat and letting out a big yawn. Then he stood up, shook himself a little to loosen up, and faced the runway that was seconds away from opening. Coulson walked up and stood next to them.

"Gentlemen," he said, "Welcome to S.H.I.E.L.D."


	3. Chapter 3

Danny was pretty sure he was an idiot. If anybody ever called him that, he would have no trouble agreeing with them. Because when Steve introduced himself, it didn't register who that Steve was. His childhood hero Steve. Captain America Steve. The First Superhero Steve. He just shook hands with Steve fucking Rogers, and didn't even notice.

What a life he was living.

As the runway started to lower, the bright sun shined through, illuminating the cabin. Danny squinted, having just woken up after all, and placed his hand in front of his face until his eyes adjusted.

Once it was down all the way, the three men walked down, straight to a woman with short, curly, red hair and an aura that said she didn't play around. With how she held herself, Danny didn't doubt that she could kick his ass in a heartbeat. In a way, she reminded him of Sam, or Valerie, who had done just that at some point or another.

"Agent Romanoff," Coulson greeted. "Captain Rogers and Dr. Fenton."

Steve glanced at Danny, who was rubbing the back of his neck. This kid? A doctor? He couldn't have been older than Steve-physically, anyway. It was all so strange, but he guessed it wasn't as strange as being half dead, so there's that.

"Ma'am," Steve greeted.

"Danny is fine," Danny replied, giving a small wave. Romanoff gave them both a small nod before turning to Coulson.

"They need you on the bridge. They're starting the face-trace."

"See you there."

They watched as Coulson briskly walked away. Romanoff turned and started walking away, and Steve and Danny quickly followed.

"It was quite the buzz here, finding you in the ice," she said to Steve. "I thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?"

"Trading cards?"

Danny didn't say anything, but now he had a newfound respect for Coulson. Maybe they could start a Captain America fan club or something, because if Steve was signing he wouldn't mind bugging the man to get his autographs.

"They're vintage, he's very proud."

Natasha led them to a nervous looking man, with black, curly hair who wore a suit that didn't fit quite right. Danny recognized him immediately.

"Wow, you're Dr. Banner!" He said. He had done a lot of research using Banner's notes to study the gamma radiation in space. Being able to meet the expert himself was more than just a little awesome.

"Uh, yeah, hi," Banner said. He walked forward and shook his hand, then Steve's.

"I'm a big fan of your work, Doctor," Danny said. "I've used it in my own studies, it's really impressive."

"Oh, thanks," Banner replied, his hands twitching. Then he turned to Steve. "They told me you'd be coming."

"Word is you can find the cube," Steve said stiffly.

Danny knew they were here on business, but he couldn't help but be bewildered, and excited to work with two of his role models.

"Is that the only word on me?" Banner asked nervously, glancing between the three of them.

"It's the only word I care about," Steve answered. His tone was all work and no play, and it made the halo around him dim a little in Danny's eyes. He was starting to see the man as just that-a man. Not some godly superhero like he had grown up believing.

He was still gonna get his cards signed, though.

"It must be strange for you. All of this," Banner gestured around them. Steve followed the motion, his eyes falling on a block of troops running in time.

"Well, this is actually kind of familiar."

"I'm more used to...Ancient armor and giant yetis," Danny told Banner. The scientist looked confused by his words, and Danny waved him off. "I'll explain later."

Steve looked just as confused as Bruce, but Romanoff looked almost amused, which Danny counted as a win.

"Gentlemen," she said. "You may want to step inside in a minute. It's going to get a little hard to breathe."

As if on cue, there were suddenly large, clanking sounds, the sound of metal shifting into place. The crew members were running around, and putting masks on their faces so they could breathe.

"Is this a submarine?" Steve asked, showing the slightest bit of wonder.

"Really?" Banner replied. "They want me in a submerged, pressurized container?" Danny smirked. The sarcasm was practically oozing from the good doctor.

"It's an airship," Danny said to Steve. It was obvious to him. After all, he imagined it would be really difficult and costly for planes to land and take off while submerged in water. He knew S.H.I.E.L.D. had resources, but he also knew that even their technology wasn't there yet. Plus, Bruce had a point. They did have a Hulk on board, now.

Danny knew all about Bruce and his other half through both the file he was given, and from just common knowledge of what had happened. Danny knew what it was like to be shaped by the media, painted as a monster and cut out of society. He could sympathize with the man, probably more than either of them realized.

He walked to the edge of the carrier with Steve and Bruce, looking into the water as it violently swirled around. The engine whirred to life, getting faster and faster until they finally started to lift.

Steve and Banner stepped back, and Danny heard Banner say, "Oh no, this is much worse."

Danny smiled. He's sure that if he was ever in a submarine he would go nuts. But being up high, where the air was either thin or nonexistent, and he became, in a sense, free? That was his happy place.

"Very riveting I know," Romanoff said. "But we have a meeting to go to, boys."

Inside was nothing special. For as expensive Danny knew this place had to be, it was really dark. He had no problem seeing, but it was still mildly annoying that they didn't have a few extra lights in the halls. After all, they could have just hired an interior designer like a normal person secret government branch.

Agent Romanoff led them into a large room, with several computer stations, and one of the biggest windows Danny had ever seen. In the middle of the platform of the entrance was a large, circular table with empty chairs, and down the runway was a bald man in a trenchcoat. The eye patch didn't go unnoticed.

All three men broke away from each other, but not too far, marveling at the large room. The ceiling was incredibly high, and all Danny wanted to do was be up there. He thought it was weird that he was flying in a ship rather than of his own free will, but he didn't hate it. The open sky was still just as beautiful to him through the large windows.

"We're at level sir," a woman with her dark hair pulled up told the Trenchcoat Man.

"Good," he replied. "Let's vanish."

"Engage retro-reflection panels," the woman ordered.

Trenchcoat Man turned and walked forward to them, his hands relaxed at his side.

Danny eyed him up and down. He wore all black, and had heavily armored everything-even his shoes. The holster on his hip stood out like a sore thumb in Danny's opinion, but he didn't show his discomfort.

He was suddenly reminded where he was. In a government base, with a significant amount of information at their fingertips. Information about him, his family, his friends. Information about

Dash. They could call themselves good all they wanted, Danny was still never going to trust them.

"Gentlemen," Trenchcoat Man greeted. Steve was the first to move. He walked up and pulled a ten dollar bill from his wallet and handed it to Trenchcoat Man, who then pocketed the cash. Danny didn't know what the exchange was about, but it was enough to tell him that the two had already met.

Trenchcoat Man walked up to Banner and held out his hand. "Doctor Fenton, Doctor Banner, thank you for coming."

"Thanks for asking nicely," Banner replied. "So, uh, how long am I staying?"

"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the wind."

"Where are you with that?"

They walked over to the edge of the platform, this time looking down at Coulson.

"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet," he replied, crossing his arms over his chest. "Cell phones, laptops, etc. If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us."

"Sir, if you want I have a friend who specializes in this kind of thing," Danny said. "He can help if you need him."

"My people are perfectly capable of finding the Tesseract on their own," Trenchcoat Man replied. "But thank you."

"You're still not going to have enough time," Romanoff jumped in. She was crouched next to a computer with a blonde man's head shot on it. It was Barton, Danny realized. Had something happened to him?

"You have to narrow your field," Bruce stated. "How many spectrometers do you have access to?"

"How many are there?" Trenchcoat Man asked.

"Call every lab you know. Tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm, basic cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?"

"Agent Romanoff," Trenchcoat Man said. She was immediately alert. "Can you show Dr. Banner to his laboratory please?"

Once they were gone, Trenchcoat Man turned to Danny and held out his hand to shake.

"Directory Fury," he said. "It's nice to meet you, Dr. Fenton."

"I'm afraid I can't say the same to you guys," Danny replied. Even if he had said something like "likewise," or "you too," he knew Fury would be the one to tell if he was lying. There wasn't a point to doing so.

"Ah, yes. I'm…Familiar with your previous government experience. I don't blame you for your opinions. Nonetheless we're thankful you're here. And anything you need, S.H.I.E.L.D. will provide. Within reason, of course."

"Thanks, I guess," Danny said with a shrug.

"I wanted to talk to you about a few things, as well. That whole mess about eight months ago when your town went missing for a whole day."

"Oh, that? That was nothing. Just an evil ghost king being awakened." Danny tried to downplay it. He didn't want to give too much information. There wasn't just his town to look after, he was completely responsible for the Zone now, too. Being their king was like being their savior but with more politics involved. He didn't hate it, but he didn't love it either. He's sure that, once he did it for a couple more years he would grow to enjoy it more. Until then though, it was just another chore for him. "I, uh, I beat him."

The look on Fury's face told Danny that this conversation wasn't over. For right now, however, they had more important things to do.

Danny decided he would go and follow Natasha and Banner to the lab. There was nothing on the bridge that he could do to help, so maybe he could lend a hand with finding the Tesseract.

Once he caught up, Natasha was already showing him around the lab, a small working space with a beautiful view of the sky. There were large, holographic monitors hanging off of the wall, and several metal desks and counters as working space. Compared to his parent's basement this really wasn't too bad.

"Hi," Danny said after Natasha left after a few minutes.

"Hi. Danny, right?" Banner asked. Danny nodded.

"Yeah. I know I said it before, but I'm a big fan of your work. I use it to research gamma rays in space. To be honest though, I don't know how much help I'll be in looking for this thing. I've never had to look for gamma rays with hardly any trace."

"It takes a lot of practice," Banner replied. "So uh, if you're not here to help find the Cube then why were you recruited?"

Danny knew it wasn't because he was in the lab with him. It was because so far nobody until now has heard of him, and all of a sudden he was part of this big project that involved possibly saving the world. He was a little stressed out about working with a team he has no experience with, but he knew that when it mattered he would have no problem doing so.

"That sounded rude," Banner said. "I'm sorry."

"Oh, you're fine, I know what you meant. It's probably because of my powers, or something. I, uh," Danny hesitated. For years his main goal was to keep his secret on lock down, but he knew he wasn't going to be able to do that here. Not when they were going to find out eventually anyway. "I'm a halfa," he said finally. "Half human and half ghost."

Banner stopped working for a second and stared at Danny, going so far as to take his glasses off.

"How can you be half-ghost?" He asked. His curiosity was showing no bounds.

"My parents are scientists and ghost hunters, and there was this accident in their lab. When I woke up I was different." Danny didn't like going into detail about how he half died, and over the years he had learned how to condense the story, giving enough context where it made sense, but leaving out a lot of the needless details about how his parents are smart but not, and how he's dead but not, and how he's okay with all of it, which he is. Mostly.

"Fascinating," Banner said. Danny only shrugged. "So, what are your powers? Being half ghost has to have some benefits, right?"

"Yeah, for the most part. I have your standard ghost powers like invisibility and intangibility, flight, and I can make ectoblasts. But I also have ice powers, due to my ice core."

"Amazing. And what's a core?" Banner asked.

"It's like a ghost heart, to put it simply. It sits right here," Danny patted the center of his chest, "next to my human heart. It's about the same size, maybe just slightly bigger."

"Amazing. And, my condolences to you. I could never imagine the pain or trauma from half dying, however the hell that works."

"Thanks. And don't worry about me, I got used to it a long time ago."

"How…How long ago did this happen?" Concern was dripping from Banner's voice as he stared at Danny, part pity and part something that looked like anger?

"About ten years ago? Almost eleven. I was fourteen when I got into the accident." Danny spoke as nonchalantly as he could. It was so long ago, and honestly, it wasn't the weirdest thing that's happened to him in his life. It had become his normal.

"Wow." Banner was no longer amazed. Instead he seemed horrified that it all happened.

Suddenly the idea of being half ghost didn't seem appealing.

Before Danny and Bruce could even attempt to transition the conversation to a lighter note, Steve came walking in, dressed in stars and stripes, his shield in his hands.

"You got a suit?" He asked Danny. Danny nodded. "Then suit up."

Danny looked behind him to Bruce, who shook his head.

"It's better if I stay here," he said. Danny only nodded again, and followed Captain America out.

They didn't say anything as they headed down to the runway, where Natasha was waiting for them in the pilot's seat of the jet that he and Cap boarded. Once they were up in the air, Cap turned to him, a confused and slightly irritated look on his face.

"I thought you said you had a suit," he said. Danny looked down, still in his jeans and faded Dumpty Humpty shirt.

"Oh, I did," he said. And without warning anybody, he let his white rings wash over him, changing his black hair to snow, and his blue eyes to their toxic, green color. When everything was said and done, both Natasha and Cap were staring at him.

"That's a neat light trick you got there," Natasha said with a smirk.

"Thanks. It's a perk of being a halfa."

Steve nodded, not asking any questions, which made Danny kind of relieved. He just explained everything to Bruce, and he really didn't want to do it all over again.

Steve looked Danny over. He was wearing a black and white skin tight suit, with a blazing green logo on his chest, the same color as his eyes. He also had a black cape with a green trim attached by two blue jewles, and a crown that looked like ice floating above his head. He had some type of container strapped to his hip. Steve knew he had a nice build, but the bagginess of his clothes had done him an injustice. Danny was ripped, even more so than Steve. When he wasn't slouching he was about an inch taller, too. He also had a slight...Glow about him. Like, literally, he was glowing.

The difference between this Danny and the Danny he met a few short hours ago was like night and day. When he's not like this he's quiet, reserved, out of the way, and friendly. This Danny stood tall, and was oozing with confidence. It was obvious he knew exactly what he was doing, and there wasn't going to be any kind of hesitation from him.

Danny sat back down and yawned, and Steve noticed that ever since Danny had his little light show, it was colder. He wasn't freezing, but it was enough to make him notice.

After Steve briefed him on what they were doing, they didn't really talk much after that. Steve because he was getting ready for the battle, and Danny because he was tired. Danny was confident, and he stood tall, but Steve saw the way his shoulders slumped when he sat down, and he saw the amount of yawning he was doing. Even now, on the way to catching Loki, he looked ready to pass out.

Thanks to S.H.I.E.L.D. technology and Natasha's sense of urgency, they made it to Germany in only a few hours. The sky outside was dark, and below there were people running away from the building Loki was reported to be.

Danny stood up as they started their descent, and scowled as he saw Loki walking slowly out of the building, blasting a car, and then forming a sort of coral with clones of some sort.

"It's go time," he said. And without hesitating, he grabbed Steve under his arms, turned them invisible and intangible, and slipped through the bottom of the plane.

It was like it was slow motion for a moment. As an old man stood up, protesting Loki, Loki raised his scepter. Danny launched Captain America down, and luckily he got the message. He grabbed his shield off his back and twisted around mid-air, blocking the beam as he landed, and saving the old man.

"You know, the last time I was in Germany," Cap said, "I saw a man standing above everybody else. We ended up disagreeing."

"The soldier," Loki sneered as he stood back up. "Man out of time."

"I'm not the one who's out of time."

Danny, who had stopped next to Cap, dropped his invisibility. His aura glowed brighter than ever, and his green eyes bore into Loki's soul.

"Ah, so the Undead King has decided to join this pointless mission," Loki said as his eyes flicked to Danny. Danny met his cold gaze, and something about Loki's posture changed. It was subtle enough to not notice, but Danny made it a point to study his opponents body language. So Loki had heard of him.

Good.

"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down," Natasha's voice boomed over the ship speakers as she trained its guns on Loki. Without hesitation, Loki raised his scepter aimed for the wings. If it hadn't been for Natasha's quick reflexes, she would have gone down.

In the split second that Loki was still staring up at the ship, Cap launched his shield at Loki, hitting him square in the chest, knocking him back a couple of feet.

Danny and Cap both lunged for Loki, taking hits where they could get them, but Loki was an Asgardian prince who has known how to fight for 1,500 years, so even starting out they were at a disadvantage.

As Danny dodged a hit from Loki, the trickster blasted Cap away. In that split moment, Danny stopped holding back.

He formed an ecto-powered punch and sent it into Loki's stomach, making him double over. As he leaned down, Danny grabbed a fistful of his hair and slammed his head down on his knee. Loki shot up, stumbling back. There was blood spurting from his nose. Before he could regain his balance, Danny spun around and kicked him, knocking him back into the steps of a building.

Despite the beating, however, Loki stood up time, going after Cap. He hit him in the stomach, and placed the tip of his spear on the back of Cap's head.

"Kneel," Loki said, panting slightly. Cap swatted the scepter away and jump-kicked up.

"Not today," he said.

Before he could attack again, however, Loki picked Cap up and threw him aside. Danny was about to charge again, but was stopped dead in his tracks. Usually he didn't let very many things get through, but the sudden appearance of AC/DC's Shoot to Thrill was something that had never happened. All three of the fighting men looked up at the ship, and then to the beam of light curving downwards.

Iron Man shot at Loki, blasting him into a set of stairs as he slowed his flight down, and landed in between Cap and Danny. All of them were pointing their defenses up at him.

"Give it up, Reindeer Games," Iron Man said. Loki, knowing he was outnumbered and outgunned, held up his hands in surrender, and his regal outfit shimmered into a normal tuxedo.

"Good move," Iron Man said, letting his defenses down. Danny and Cap walked over, and Danny made it a point to keep his hands glowing with its normal green energy.

"Mr. Stark," Cap panted.

"Captain," Iron Man replied. "Casper."

Danny gave a tiny nod, and stepped forward. He hoisted Loki up to his feet, keeping a tight grip on him, and Cap took out a pair of special handcuffs and placed them on Loki.

"I'll take him if you take Cap," Danny told Iron Man.

"Fine by me," Iron Man replied. Danny nodded, hooked his arms under Loki's, and flew him up to the ship. He didn't bother going through the entrance, however. He just fazed through the bottom of it like he had done minutes before, when he had been carrying Cap.

Danny set Loki down, and as he was finishing up securing the prisoner, Iron Man and Cap flew back in, landing with a heavy clank.

Danny looked down at Loki, and saw him eyeing him with a mixture of curiosity and fear, but he said nothing.

Now that everything was said and done, Danny realized just how tired he was. But he couldn't power down, not here. Not in front of Loki. So instead, he took the seat across from the trickster god, arms crossed over his chest, and stared at him.

"So," Iron Man said, "How does the whole...Ghost thing work?"

Danny raised an eyebrow at Tony, breaking eye contact with Loki. "What?" He asked.

"The whole ghost thing," Tony said again, as if that explained what he wanted it to.

"Uh, I died?" Danny replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Were you like a monarch or something?"

"What makes you say that?"

"Your outfit, your highness," Tony replied. When he said your highness, however, there was a tone of...Something. Mock, maybe. Danny couldn't quite place it.

"I wasn't when I was, y'know, human, but I am now. It's a, uh, long story. I'll explain later."

Tony nodded, and Danny could see the curiosity blazing in his eyes.

They flew in silence for a little while. None of them really felt the need to speak, and Loki certainly wasn't making any move to do anything. Danny wondered if it was because of him.

Danny sighed and closed his eyes, and leaned back.


	4. Chapter 4

Danny woke with a start, once the plane started shaking. Thunder boomed outside, and lightning flashed across the window. He hadn't even realized he had dozed off, but he was thankful that he hadn't fully powered down. His ghost form glowed as bright as ever.

"What's happening?" He asked, yawning as he did so. But neither Stark or Cap paid any attention to him. Instead, their attention was on Loki, who was looking around the cabin with a worried expression on his face.

"What's the matter?" Steve asked. "Scared of a little lightning?"

"I'm not overly fond of what follows," Loki replied.

As if on cue, something big landed on the top of the ship, making it the metal creak under the sudden weight. The lightning and thunder was roaring around them, and Loki looked paler than he had a second ago. Danny jumped to his feet, fists glowing. At the same time, Tony grabbed his helmet, put it on, and opened up the ramp. Wind whipped around them, and Steve had to shout to be heard.

"What are you doing?"

But before Iron Man could answer, a man with long, blonde hair and a hammer jumped down. Iron Man raised his fist, ready to fire, but Thor was faster. He lunged for Iron Man with his hammer, knocking him all the way back to the pilot's seat. Danny has to turn intangible to avoid being thrown back with him. Before either Danny or Steve could react, he grabbed Loki by the throat and jumped out of the plane with him.

"Motherfu-" Danny started.

"-Another Asgardian?" Natasha asked from the front.

"That guys a friendly?" Steve asked.

"Doesn't matter," Iron Man answered as he pulled himself to his feet. "If he frees Loki or kills him the Tesseract is lost."

"Stark, we need a plan of attack." Iron Man walked to the edge, and turned around.

"I have a plan. Attack."

And then he jumped.

"That is the lamest way he could have gone," Danny shouted over the wind.

Cap wasted no time in putting on a parachute.

"I'd sit this one out, Cap," Natasha called from the front.

"I don't see how I can," Steve said firmly, buckling the parachute. Danny turned to him.

"Dude, they're gods, you'll be slaughtered," Danny replied. He knew just how deadly Asgardians can be, and he knew even more so how catastrophic a sibling rivalry could be. His relationship with Jazz was proof enough of that. While they were on great terms, and had a solid, healthy relationship, it hadn't always been like that.

"There's only one God, and I'm pretty sure He doesn't dress like that."

As much as Danny wanted to joke about Thor's outfit too, he really wasn't one to talk, nor did he have the time, because now Steve was jumping out of the plane.

"Are they always like this?" Danny called. Natasha just shrugged, and Danny sighed, rolling his eyes. "I'll go grab them."

Natasha gave him a thumbs up, and he fell through the floor.

He fell for only a few moments before using his flight to make him go faster. His top speed was incredible, but he didn't need it. He was close enough to where if he used it, it would just be a weird, unnecessary flex.

There was a bright flash of light in a clearing, and Danny was there in seconds. Thor was mid-jump, hammer outstretched as Cap raised his shield. Without even thinking, he made some green shields, blocking the hammer, and sending Thor back. Then, as he was regaining his balance, he flipped around and kicked Thor off of his feet, landing on his own a little roughly.

Before anybody could protest, the shields came up again. He was so irritated with them all. Iron Man, for bailing, Cap for just going along, and Thor, for stealing their prisoner, and then apparently losing him, since Danny couldn't really see him anywhere. His eyes blazed as he looked at the three of them.

"Are you guys serious right now? Really? Loki has been planning something, so how about we stop measuring dicks and get back to our job." He turned to Thor, his hand ablaze with ectoplasmic energy. "And you! You're Asgardian, right? Are you on our side?"

"If you are on the side of justice, then yes," Thor answered, eyeing Danny warily, just as Loki had. But before he could ask Danny anything, Stark interrupted.

"Then don't take our prisoner."

Thor had the decency to look a little guilty, which satisfied Danny enough to bring the shields down.

"Where is Loki, anyway?" He asked.

Instead of answering, they all looked at the trickster god, where he was still waiting for them, hands still cuffed. Something about that bothered Danny, but he had no time to worry about it now.

"I'll grab him," he said to the others. "You three head up."

* * *

Back on the ship, Danny was wide awake and not very happy. He was surrounded by men who were having a dick measuring contest and one prisoner. The Asgardians in the group looked at him weird the entire way to the main ship, and Thor would not take his eyes off of him, not even for a second.

"I've heard tales of the Undead King, but I had not imagined meeting you so soon," Thor told him after a while.

"That makes two of us. I met your dad though. No offense, but he kinda seems like a dick." Before Thor could reply, Tony jumped in on the conversation.

"Right. It's later. You said you would explain the whole ghost thing. Also the whole king thing."

"Maybe it's best if I don't share my tragic backstory in front of the prisoner," Danny said with a roll of his eyes. Loki just chuckled from his spot on the bench.

"Something funny?" Steve asked threateningly.

"Everybody in all the Nine Realms have heard of you," Loki told Danny. "A man-a hybrid-ruling over the entire realm of the dead? How someone as weak as you ever defeated Pariah Dark, I will never understand."

Danny didn't reply. Instead, he formed a sort of sticky, ectoplasmic goo, and slapped it on Loki's mouth. He looked highly offended by the action, and thrashed around for only a moment before accepting his silence. Beside him, Thor chuckled.

"That was amusing," he said. Then he turned to Danny and held out his hand. Danny gripped his forearm, just as he had done with Clockwork and Frostbite when he had been coronated. "I've heard tales of your greatness even before you became the Undead King. You have my respect, Phantom."

"Same goes for you," Danny said, releasing Thor's forearm.

The rest of the ride was spent with light chatter about what Steve was caught up on, and about some of Thor's battles form Asgard, or about Tony revolutionizing a whole other who even cares. Danny didn't participate. Instead, he just sat back and kept an eye on Loki as the others talked. He had a silver tongue, and was a master at trickery. Danny wasn't going to let the bastard out of his sight.

Once they made it back, a small troop came and took Loki away, and Natasha led them back to the main hangar, where a glass table sat. She, Danny, and the others gathered around it, some sitting and some not. Natasha pulled up a small screen in front of her, which showed live footage of Loki and Fury.

They all watched or listened as Fury threatened Loki with an imminent death if he tried to escape.

 _"How desperate are you, that you call on lost creatures to your aid?"_ Loki asked.

 _"How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control. You talk about peace, and you kill because it's fun. You have made me very desperate, and you might not be glad that you did."_ Fury responded.

Danny rubbed his face as he leaned back in his chair. Eight months ago he had quickly ended a weekend-long war, and now he had to work with a bunch of strangers to do it again. Why couldn't megalomaniacs take a break on world domination for more than a few months? It was really taking a toll on Danny's mental health.

And speaking of health, he had been in his ghost form for probably far too long. He should power down, turn back to Fenton. He was a little worried though, that he would just pass out right then and there if he changed. He could last a while in ghost form, but his exhaustion took a toll on his human form.

He sighed, knowing he couldn't really hold the form longer if he wanted to. He groaned, and let the rings wash over him, turning him back to Fenton. Immediately he felt the effects. He almost fell asleep right then and there, but thankfully he managed to not do just that.

"Cute light show," Bruce commented. Danny slumped forward, his head resting in his hand, and gave a small hum as a response. His eyes were half open. He was acutely aware of Thor's eyes boring into him. He didn't know if it was the thunder god or if it was his lightning scars that were causing an itching, burning sensation just beneath his skin.

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Bruce asked. Loki had said something threatening, Danny assumed. He was no longer paying attention. He was too tired. When was the last time he had really slept?

"Loki's gonna drag this out," Steve added. "So Thor, what's his play?"

"He has an army called the Chitari. They're not of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth, in return I suspect, for the Tesseract."

"An army," Steve paused for a moment, and he looked about as done with everything as Danny felt. "From outer space."

"Space is cool," Danny said with a yawn.

"That's why he's building another portal," Bruce chimed in. "That's what he's taken Eric Selvig for."

"Selvig?" Thor and Danny asked at the same time. They made eye contact, and Danny leaned back in his chair again. Bruce continued.

"He's an astrophysicist."

"He's a friend," Thor said.

"Loki has him under some kind of spell," Natasha chimed in. "Along with one of ours."

"Is it that Barton guy? Clint, or Hawkeye, or whoever?" Danny asked her. She didn't get the chance to respond verbally, so she just gave him a tiny nod. If she was as close as she seemed to the guy, Danny figured Clint told her about recruiting him for the Avengers.

"I wanna know why Loki let us take him," said Steve. "He's not leading an army from here."

"Maybe he wants to be here," Danny suggested.

"Why would he want to be here, though? What does he have to gain from being in captivity?"

"Man, I don't know, ask him." There was an irritated tone in his voice, but he didn't care to try an hide it. Danny was too tired for this shit.

"I don't think we should focus a lot on Loki," Bruce said. "That guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You could smell crazy on him."

"Have care with how you speak," interjected Thor. "Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard. And he is my brother."

"He killed eighty people in two days," Natasha said blankly. Danny turned around and raised his eyebrow at Thor, who was suddenly looking a little sheepish.

"He's adopted."

"I think it's about the mechanics. Iridium, what do they need the iridium for?" Bruce asked.

"To create a portal?" Danny asked. "That's one of the things my parents used on theirs."

"Your parents have a portal?"

"Yeah, to the Ghost Zone. But, back to Loki. If he is building a portal, what would he need it for?"

"The iridium is a stabilizing agent," Tony said as he walked in with Coulson. They had a few short words with each other, something about flying to Portland. Coulson nodded and left, and Tony continued on. "It means, the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at S.H.I.E.L.D. No hard feelings, Point Break, you got a mean swing." He tapped Thor on the arm twice. "Also it means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long as Loki wants."

He walked up to the computers, where Fury normally stood. "Raise the topsails. Jib the mizzenmast." He looked around, and pointed to a guy somewhere to his right. "That man is playing _Galaga_. He thought we wouldn't notice but we did."

Danny watched as Tony placed a hand over his left eye, and crinkled his eyebrows. "How does Fury even see these?"

"He turns," Agent Ross said simply. She sounded calm, and patient, but Danny could tell from the stiffness of her words that she was quickly starting to get annoyed.

"Sounds exhausting. The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. The only major component he still needs is-"

"-A power source of high-energy density," Danny said. Tony looked at him, an eyebrow raised.

"Do I know you? Do we know him?" He asked the others.

"It's Casper, Tony," Danny said. He yawned again, and stretched. His shoulders and spine popped.

"Oh, look at you and your little costume change. Well, you're right. It would be something to kick-start the cube."

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Ross asked.

"Last night. The packet, Selvig's notes, the extraction theory papers. Am I the only one that did the reading?" Tony didn't sound surprised one bit. In fact, he almost sounded smug. He knew he was the smartest guy in the room, and didn't mind flaunting it.

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve interjected.

"He'd have to heat the cube to 120-million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier," Bruce said.

"Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect," replied Tony.

"Well, if he could achieve that he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet."

"Finally," Tony said, moving towards Bruce excitedly. "Someone who speaks English."

"Is that what just happened?" Steve asked. Danny nodded and shrugged. Steve turned to him. "Why don't you help them? You're a scientist too, right?"

"I'm an astronomer," Danny replied. "I study stars and space. Not," Danny waved a hand in Bruce and Tony's direction, "Whatever it is they're talking about."

"It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. Your work on anti-electron collision is unparalleled. I'm also a big fan of the way you lose control and turn into a giant, green, rage monster."

"Thanks," Bruce said, looking away. It was obvious that was one topic he didn't want to spend time on.

"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. And we were hoping you would join him." They all turned to Fury, who was walking towards them.

"We could start with his staff," Danny suggested. "It's gotta be some source of magic or ancient science or something for him to still be in control of the agents without it."

"It works an awful lot like a Hydra weapon," Steve added.

"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube," Fury told him.

"Which was used by the Red Skull in World War II. It's the same energy source, they're just being used differently," Danny said.

"And how do you know this?" Fury asked.

"There was a short period of time where I accidentally ended up in Nazi, Germany a few years back. I fell through a natural portal in the Zone."

"You keep bringing that up," Tony said, almost irritated. "What is it? Or are you just going to keep that sweet information to yourself?"

"The Ghost Zone? It's a place where all ghosts reside, and it links a bunch of dimensions together. But there are these natural portals that can send you to any time or place in any dimension," Danny answered. He didn't want to get into the nitty gritty details of the Zone when they had more pressing matters to deal with.

"Ghosts are real? Is that what you're going with?"

"With your power how come you didn't do anything to stop the Nazis and Hydra?" Ross asked, not giving Danny a chance to answer Stark's question.

"It wasn't my job. It was his," he pointed a thumb at Steve. "I didn't want to mess up the whole space-time continuum thing. In history, Steve was the one that did that. So I let him do it. But it was a frustrating time, it took me like a week to get back to the right time. And even then I somehow ended up in Eastern Africa where this panther tribe did not like me. But that's a whole other story."

"And you're free to come and go through that realm as much as you please?" Bruce asked.

"Well, yeah, they kind of have to let me, considering I run the place. The place is full of ghosts, but the only ones who do anything in this world are...questionable, to say the least. Although there are a few ghosts who I felt comfortable inviting to my wedding, like Dora and Pandora, Arachne and Howard, and-"

"You're married?"

"Okay, enough," Fury said. "We need to focus. I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."

"Monkeys...I do not understand," Thor said.

"I do!" Steve said. Everybody, including Danny, stared at him. "I understood that reference."

Danny watched as Tony rolled his eyes, and Bruce sighed. He almost felt bad for Steve. It was obvious he hadn't been able to catch up all the way. Then again, he's only been thawed out for a week, maybe two at the most. He probably had better things to do than figure out what the fuck WiFi was.

"Shall we play, Doctor?" Tony asked.

"Right this way," Bruce replied. They left before anybody could stop them. Danny wasn't sure if anybody really wanted to, though.

"Right," Danny said. "All we can do right now is wait. So I'm gonna go."

He didn't really bother waiting either. He just sunk to the floor, eager to get his phone out of his pocket. He flew around for a few minutes before finally deciding on a small, deserted hallway. It seemed quiet enough. He dialed Dash's number and pressed the call button.

_"Danny?"_

Dash's voice flooded Danny's senses, and all the tension in his body seemed to dissipate.

"Hey, babe," he greeted. "How are you?"

_"I'm good. I would be great if you were here, but I'm gonna be best when I know you'll come back."_

"And-"

_"-Amity is fine, too. It's almost like they know you're not here."_

"I'm king now, they probably have some way of knowing. I wouldn't put it past them. It's...It's good to hear your voice, Dash."

_"I miss you too. Do you have an idea of how much longer it's going to take to get rid of this guy? The fight in Germany was all over the news."_

"No. We have him in custody, but we still need to get Agent Barton and Eric Selvig back from his control. They're kind of in the wind right now."

 _"How is the team?_ Who _is the team?"_

"So far it's me, Bruce Banner, Captain America, Iron Man, and Agent Romanoff, who's close friends with Barton, and maybe Thor, I guess. He keeps looking at me weird, though because of the whole ghost king thing. And...It's not terrible. It could be better, but we've known each other for like a day. I'm sure we'll get there eventually."

_"I hope so. With how powerful Loki is you guys are going to need all hands on deck. Do you want me to call Dani?"_

"No, not yet. I'll call her if I absolutely need to. But thanks for the offer."

Danny couldn't help the smile on his face as he and Dash talked for a few more minutes, but the sound of footsteps coming his way told him he needed to go.

"I'll try to call you soon. I love you."

_"I love you too. Stay safe, Danny."_

"Always. Bye, Dash."

Just as he hung up, Steve walked in, his blue eyes searching. But he stopped when he saw Danny. He glanced down at the phone, and smiled at him.

"Was that your girl back home or something?" He asked.

"Or something," Danny replied. He didn't mind being out, but Steve was from the early twentieth century, where they weren't known for being kind to gay people. So for now, to Steve at least, Dash was an or something instead of his husband. Danny had to resist the urge to play with the band around his ring finger.

"Do you wanna go visit the lab with me?" Steve asked. Danny shrugged.

"Yeah, why not?"


	5. Chapter 5

"Ow!"

Danny and Steve walked in to see Tony staring intently into Bruce's eyes, a small poker in his hand.

"Hey!" Steve shouted.

"Nothing?" Tony asked Bruce, as if he hadn't heard Steve at all. "Jury's out. You really do have a lid on it. What's your secret? Mellow jazz, bongo drums, a huge bag of weed?" Tony was talking a mile a minute, but he was funny. Danny couldn't suppress his smile.

"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve asked, irritation obvious in his voice. It seems as though he didn't have that Twenty-First Century Humor yet.

"Funny things are," Tony quipped.

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny. No offense, Doc."

"I-it's alright. I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things."

"He's got a point. Plus, Bruce hasn't even turned into the Hulk since the Harlem incident. I'd put a little more faith in him, Steve," Danny said.

Steve shot him a look, and Danny could see why Tony wasn't star struck with the good Captain as Danny had been when they first met. Steve was a good guy, but he really needed to take the stick out of his ass.

"You're tip-toeing big man," Tony gestured to Bruce as he walked towards another machine. "You need to strut."

"And you need to focus on the problems here, Stark," Steve interjected.

"You think I'm not?" Tony shot back, making his way towards Steve now. "Why did Fury call us? And why now, why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables."

"You think Fury is hiding something?"

"Cap, he's a spy. He's the spy. His secrets have secrets."

"I gotta agree with him on this one," Danny chimed in. "Not only are they spies, but they're the government, which you can't fully trust ever. Not even back in your day, Steve. The government is fucked up, and they do terrible things for the right and wrong reasons."

"What did they do to you?" Tony asked.

"Nothing that makes me want to talk about it," Danny replied. Flashes of white soared through his thoughts. Searing pain. Quiet murmurs, and cold restraints. He took a deep breath and focused on the matter at hand again.

Tony wasn't expecting a real answer. In a way he didn't get one, but there was something some government did that fucked Danny up. Tony didn't miss the way he got more pale, or the way he was now clenching and unclenching his fists nervously. Maybe he had PTSD? He wouldn't be surprised if a ghost-person had it. But now Tony was curious about Danny, and Tony being curious was never a safe thing.

Danny was the biggest anomaly Tony has met. He was covered in blue-purple Lichtenberg scars, criss-crossing all over his body, the most heavily scarred aread being his left hand and forearm. Every time he walked into a room the temperature would drop significantly, and for being so young, it was obvious he had a lot of baggage and experience behind those piercing, blue eyes. Tony wanted to talk to him.

But the scepter and Loki were their priorities at the moment. Not Danny.

"It's bugging him too, isn't it?" Tony continued, turning to Bruce.

"Uh," Bruce said. He wasn't used to being put on the spot like that, but standing next to Stark it was impossible to avoid. "I just want to finish my work here," he gestured vaguely in front of him."

"Doctor?" Steve asked expectantly. Danny looked between the two, the tension in both their jaws not going unnoticed.

"'A warm light for all mankind.' Loki's jab at Fury about the cube."

"I heard it," Steve replied.

"Well, I think that was meant for you," Bruce pointed at Tony, who then offered him a blueberry. Then he offered some to Danny, who also accepted. "Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the tower, it was still all over the news."

"Stark tower?" Danny asked. "I heard about that, it's powered by an arc reactor, right?"

"A self-sustaining energy source," Bruce chimed in. "That building will run itself on what, a year?"

"It's just a prototype," Tony answered. "I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now," he said to Steve. "That's what he's getting at."

"So, why didn't S.H.I.E.L.D. bring him in on the Tesseract project? What are they doing in the clean energy business in the first place"

"I just assumed it was because he "doesn't play well with others," Danny said, using air quotes as he did. "That's what was in your file, anyway."

"I should probably look into that once my decryption program finishes breaking into all of S.H.I.E.L.D's secure files," Tony said. He walked around the work table to stand next to Steve and Danny.

"I'm sorry, did you say-"

"-Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge," interrupted Tony. "In a few hours I'll know every dirty secret S.H.I.E.L.D. has ever tried to hide. Blueberry?" he pointed the open package towards Steve, who righteously ignored it.

"Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around," he said.

"I think Tony is onto something," Danny chimed in, but it fell on deaf ears.

"An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically, not awesome," Tony said.

"I think Loki's trying to wind us up," Steve countered. "This is a man who means to start a war, and if we don't stay focused he'll succeed. We have orders. We should follow them."

"Are you feeling the sexual tension in the room, too, or is it just me?" whispered Danny to Bruce. Bruce chuckled a little and shrugged.

"Following's not really my style," Tony popped some blueberries in his mouth.

"And you're all about style, aren't you?"

"Of the people in this room, which one is A, wearing a spangly outfit, and B, not of use?"

"Yikes," Danny said.

"Steve," Bruce interjected. "Tell me none of this smells a little funky to you."

Steve looked at Bruce for a moment, then at the ground before saying, "Just find the Cube."

Nobody tried to stop him from leaving.

"That's the guy my dad never shut up about?" Tony said, exasperated. Danny didn't really blame him, but he didn't really blame Steve either. But to be fair, he knew for a fact Steve hardly just followed orders. Azzano is a good example of this. But he didn't bring it up as Tony walked around the room. "I'm wondering if they should have kept him on ice."

Danny, no longer wanting to be a part of this conversation, sunk through the floor.

He traveled through the ship, invisible and intangible, until he got to some random room with a bunch of wooden crates. They gave off a sort of energy that Danny thought was familiar, but couldn't quite place. He frowned and looked around. It was a chilling sort of sensation, and it sent shivers down his spine. Danny frowned, and opened one of the crates. Inside was a large gun sort of thing, glowing that same bright blue as the Tesseract. Danny's frown deepened as he looked down at it, examining it for a moment longer before replacing the lid. He needed to show Steve, they could show him that they were all on the same side. But before he could even think about moving, the star spangled man with a plan pried the door open and snuck through.

"What are you doing here?" Danny asked.

"Checking out S.H.I.E.L.D.S's dirty secrets. And I could ask you the same thing." Steve's eyes flicked between Danny and the open crate.

"Same thing. You know, if you wanted help breaking in you could have just asked."

"You were still talking with Stark, I didn't think you'd be interested."

"Exposing secret government branches is a hobby of mine, Cap. I do it all the time."

"Is that why you hate them?"

It was like Steve had punched him in the face. He was so shocked by his forwardness that his mouth and brain lost their connection for a few moments. The tone in Steve's voice was so earnest that Danny almost told him. Thankfully, he managed to hold his tongue, and looked away from Steve.

"It's personal," he finally said. There was a finality in his tone, a message for Steve to drop the subject. Thankfully, he did.

"Right. So, what did you find?" He asked.

"Um, some guns," Danny answered. He picked the long one up out of the crate carefully and showed it to Steve. The soldier's eyes widened as he took it, a grimace on his face. "You recognize it?" Danny asked.

"This was used by Hydra in the war," Steve said, his voice angry and quiet.

"How long has it been? Since you've been unfrozen, and whatnot."

Steve studied him for a moment, and Danny really hoped he wasn't giving off his own bad vibes. Steve's hands tightened around the weapon.

"Two weeks," he said. And Jesus, no wonder he was so fucking angry at everyone right now. Steve had given his life to stop Skull from using the Tesseract, only to wake up and be faced with the same problem because some people couldn't keep their noses clean.

"So everything is still pretty recent," Danny said. "That's gotta suck, dude. I can't imagine dying for something to be fixed, only for that thing to end up broken again."

"Yeah, well," Steve said, leveling him with piercing, blue eyes. "At least I know who to go to to talk to about this."

Danny grinned at him, and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "I'm right there with you, pal."


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for disappearing off the face of the planet for a hot second, I got a new full time job and just kind of forgot about this if I'm being completely honest. Hope you enjoy!

"Loki means to unleash the Hulk. Keep Banner in the lab, I'm on my way."

Steve and Danny looked at each other as Natasha's transmission came through. It couldn't have been better timing. Danny wouldn't put it past Natasha to secretly keep an eye on them. She seemed almost too good at her job.

"God, I love exposing government secrets," Danny said.

"We gotta take this to the others. Stark was onto something."

Danny nodded, and grabbed Steve from under his arms and lifted them, invisible and intangible, through the ceiling. He backtracked the way he had come, all the way back to the lab, where Tony and Bruce were sitting there waiting. Fury was already in there, speaking with the scientists.

"What is Phase 2?" Tony asked. Danny let the invisibility, intangibility, and Steve go. Steve dropped the weapon they had found on top of the table with a loud clunk.

"Phase 2 is S.H.I.E.L.D. uses the cube to make weapons," he said angrily. He turned to Tony. "Sorry, the computer was going a little slow for me."

"You helped him?" Bruce asked. Danny shrugged.

"Digging up government secrets is a pastime of mine."

"Fair enough."

"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean we are-"

"-I'm sorry Nick, what were you lying?" Tony turned a screen around, showing a model of the canon thing Steve had just put on the table.

"I was wrong, Director, the world hasn't changed a bit." Steve's voice was steely, and left no room for argument. Before Fury could try and defend himself, Natasha and Thor walked in.

"Did you know about this?" Bruce asked Natasha.

"You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?" She asked.

"I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed," Bruce chuckled bitterly.

"Loki is manipulating you."

"And you've been doing what, exactly?"

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you."

"Yes, and I'm not leaving just because suddenly you get a little twitchy. I'd like to know why S.H.I.E.L.D. is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."

"Because of him," Fury said after a moment, pointing at Thor.

"Me?" Thor was looking just as confused as everybody else in the room.

"Last year Earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned."

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet."

"But you're not the only people out there, are you? And you're not the only threat. Take a look at him," Fury pointed towards Danny. "He's the motherfucking King of Ghosts. If he ever went rogue he could use any ghost at his disposal."

"Uh, not true, and rude," Danny said. "I can't control every ghost. Maybe you should stop getting your fucking information from the Guys in White and just fucking ask me about my powers, Fury."

"The Guys in White?" Tony asked.

"The world is filling up with people who can't be matched," Fury went on, ignoring Danny completely. "They can't be controlled."

"Like you controlled the Cube?" Steve asked.

"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies. It is a signal to all the realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war," Thor said.

"A higher form?" Steve asked.

"You forced our hand," Fury continued, ignoring Steve, too. We had to come up with something."

"Nuclear deterrent," Tony said. "'Cause that always calms everything right down."

"Remind me again about how you made your fortune, Stark."

"I'm sure if he still made weapons Stark would be neck-deep-" Steve started saying, but was cut off by Tony.

"Hold on, how is this now about me?"

"I'm sorry, isn't everything?"

"I thought humans were more evolved," Thor said.

"I thought a god would be less of a dick," Danny shot back.

"Excuse me, do we come to your planet and blow stuff up?" Fury asked Thor.

Their voices started to rise above one another as they argued, Danny trying to defend both himself and his people. Finding out he had been on threat watch for years by Fury made him uncomfortable, exposed, and pissed off. He had done nothing but save his one small hometown, he didn't deserve to be monitored like he was the next top villain, as if he was like Vlad or Pariah.

"You speak of control, yet you court chaos" Thor said.

"That's his M.O. isn't it? I mean, what are we, a team? No, no no no, we're a chemical mixture that makes chaos," Bruce said nervously, angrily.

"Loki is toying with us," Danny said.

"We're a time bomb," Bruce continued, as if he hadn't heard him.

"You need to step away," Fury said, taking a step closer to the doctor.

"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" Tony asked, placing his hand on Steve's shoulder. Immediately, Steve threw it off, saying, "You know damn well why, now back off!"

"I'm starting to want you to make me," Tony said.

"Yeah, big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?"

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist."

"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. And I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on the wire and let the other guy crawl over you."

"I think I would just cut the wire."

Steve smiled, but it wasn't a happy one. He turned, angrily amused to look at Banner, then back at Tony. "Always a way out. You know, you may not be a threat but you better stop pretending to be a hero."

"Hey!" Danny said. "Listen, we've all done some good here. Steve, I get it, two weeks ago you died to get rid of this cube. But Tony's saved lives, just like you. Now how about-"

"A hero? Like you? You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle," Tony practically snarled, ignoring Danny completely. He was starting to get really tired of people not listening to him.

Steve was silent for a moment, contemplating this, before saying, "Put on the suit. Let's go a few rounds."

Before either one could respond, Thor started laughing. Laughing at them. "You people are so petty. And tiny."

"Yeah, this is a team," Bruce scoffed.

"Agent Romanoff, could you escort Dr. Banner back to his-" Fury started.

"-Where? You rented my room."

"The cell was just in case-"

"-In case you needed to kill me. But you can't, I know, I tried." Everybody stared at him with varying amounts of shock, and Danny couldn't help remembering that same feeling he had had a few years back, when he was in the custody of the GiW. If it hadn't been for Dash he probably would have committed. "I got low. I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out. So I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good. Until you dragged me back into this freakshow, and put everyone at risk. You want to know my secret, Agent Romanoff, you want to know how I stay calm?"

"Bruce," Danny said carefully. The Doctor was gripping the staff tightly, looking at all of them with a sort of manic look in his eye. Fury and Natasha reached for their guns, and Danny held his hands up in a 'don't shoot' type of way.

"Dr. Banner," Steve said, his voice calmer than it had been moments ago. "Put down the scepter."

Bruce looked down, realization dawning on him. At the same time the computer started beeping.

"Got it," Tony said, as Bruce put the scepter on the table.

"Sorry kids," Bruce said as he started walking away. "You don't get to see my party trick after all."

"You located the Tesseract?" Thor asked.

"I can get there fastest," Tony said.

"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard,. No human is a match for it."

"How about a half-human?" Danny asked.

"You're not going alone," Steve said, grabbing Tony's arm. He swatted it away.

"What, you gonna stop me?"

"Put on the suit, let's find out."

The computer was still beeping, and Bruce looked at the screen worriedly, taking his glasses off. "Oh my god."

"What?" Danny asked. But just as the word had left his mouth, a massive explosion erupted, throwing fire up through the vent-like floors. Steve and Tony were knocked to the ground, and Danny was knocked against the wall.

"Put on the suit," Steve coughed, helping Tony to his feet.

"Yeah," Tony shared as they stumbled out of the room.

"Hill!" Fury yelled into his ear.

"External detonation" was all he needed to hear. He quickly turned into Phantom and flew through the ceiling and out of the Helicarrier. One of the engines had been blown, and the ship was starting to lose altitude.

"Somebody's got to get outside and patch that engine," Hill's voice came through.

"Stark, you copy that?" Fury asked.

"Got it!"

"It's not looking too hot, you guys!" Danny yelled over the wind. He flew around the engine, looking for a space where he could fix it, when he saw Steve.

"Stark, Fenton, I'm here!" he called.

"Good," Stark said, flying in between Danny and Steve, stopping short right in front of a ruined part of the engine. "Let's see what we got!" Danny watched as he pushed something back into place, and turned to Steve. "I need you to get to that engine control panel and tell me which relays are in overload position."

"I'll get the debris," Danny called, and flew above the engine. There was a large piece, he would need to cut it or phase it through everything else.

"What does it look like in there?" Iron Man asked.

"It seems to run on some form of electricity," Cap replied.

"Yikes," Danny said. "Hey, Stark, where are you?"

"Fighting through this big metal wall," he replied. Danny nodded and flew through the said wall, quickly finding him. He held out his hand, which Iron Man took, and Danny led them back towards the engine.

"That was weird," he said. "What-nevermind. Explain it to me later."

"You get used to it," Danny shrugged.

"Okay, the relays are intact," Cap told them. "What's our next move?"

"Even if I clear the rotors this thing won't engage without a jump. I'm gonna have to get in there and push."

"Let me do that," Danny said. "I'm faster, stronger, and if anything goes wrong I can get out more easily."

"Right then. I'll get the debris."

Danny nodded.

"Hey, Cap? You see that red lever? It'll slow down the rotators long enough for Casper and I to get out. Wait for my word."

"Got it."

Danny only had to wait a few moments as Iron Man cut the debris with a laser, before kicking it down into oblivion. Then, Danny started moving.

He was strong, stronger than that armor he knew, but that didn't make this any more easier to push. His muscles strained as the rotors started to move. The longer he pushed the easier it got thanks to the speed he was getting, but it still wasn't enough. He needed to speed it up.

Luckily Iron Man was there to help. He offered the tiny bit of support that Danny needed to make his life a lot easier.

Unfortunately, it suddenly got harder. As they were picking up speed the Helicarrier started to suddenly lose altitude. They didn't have enough to balance it out, and the ship was sinking fast.

"Stark!" Danny called over the wind. "You got this?"

"Yeah, just keep this ship in the air!" Tony called back. Danny nodded at him, and phased through the rotors and out into open air. He quickly saw engine one, stagnant and powerless, probably from an attack on the inside. He dove towards the engine and got under it. He just needed to hold it up long enough for Stark to get the other one back up and running.

If he thought the rotors were hard, he should have done this first, because this seemed nearly impossible. At best he was slowing down the fall, and at worst he was doing nothing at all. Thank god he didn't need to do this for very long.

He grunted as he lifted, and he could feel his end of the ship grating to a slow halt. The metal was buckling under his grip, unable to take the pressure in which Danny was holding it. His muscles screamed at him as he urged himself to go up. Without realizing, Danny let out a guttural sort of yell as he forced his body to rise higher, taking the engine with him.

Stark must have been doing something right, because lifting it became suddenly easier. He and Stark worked together to get the Helicarrier up into the air again, and it was a blessing for Danny's muscles.

"Cap, hit the lever," Tony said. His voice was strangled slightly, like he was struggling. And Danny honestly didn't blame him. The rotor was not an easy feat.

Unfortunately, according to the comms, Steve was busy. He knew it was probably a goon or something, but with Stark in the rotors, there was a good chance he wouldn't make it if Steve didn't slow them down.

"Uh oh," he heard Stark say.

There was a cry for help, a couple of clanks, and a sigh of relief, and Danny knew that Tony was more or less in one piece.

"Alright, Casper, we're good. Engine is up and running."

"Beautiful," Danny sighed as he stopped pushing. The ship dropped a few inches, but it was nothing to be worried about. Danny had probably just been pushing more than he needed to near the end. He nodded to nobody in particular, and flew off towards the opening where Steve had been.

He was panting, and sweaty, and in the hallway Iron man was lying next to the guy he just dropped.

"Need some help?" Danny asked. The Iron man suit wasn't glowing like it had been minutes ago. Tony's suit was flickering, and he took off his helmet. Danny offered his hand and easily pulled the man to his feet.

And that's when Danny felt it.

The amount of lives lost, both good and bad, made his chest hurt. Ever since he got his powers he's always been able to sense when one dies, and that ability only got stronger when he became king. This much death was a lot, but now that he could sense it tenfold, it was almost overwhelming.

"You okay?" Tony asked, seeing the look on his face.

"Y-yeah," Danny said. He was holding his chest, his hand right over his core. "Just...Just a lot of death…"

There was really no way to explain the way it impacted him, and even if there was, they had more pressing matters.

"You guys okay?" Steve asked, walking up to them.

"Yeah. Let's...Let's go," Danny replied. He was mentally preparing himself to fight whoever he needed to. Was Bruce okay? Or had he turned into the Hulk? And if so, who was fighting him? Probably Thor, if he had to take a guess, but with those two battling it out they could cause the whole ship to go down.

However, before they could go, Fury's voice rang through the comms, and Danny's heart sank.

"Agent Coulson is down."


	7. Chapter 7

Danny didn't look anybody in the eye as he sat at the table in between Steve and Tony. They were the only ones there. Hulk was missing, as was Thor, and Natasha was tending to Clint, who was recovering from Loki's brainwashing. Fury stood on the other side, fiddling with something in his hands. Ross stood behind him, hands behind her back. Danny could tell she was hurting, and really, they all were. Coulson had been more or less a friend. He was friendly, smart, and courageous.

And dead.

"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket," Fury said after a few minutes. "I guess he never did get you to sign them." Fury tossed whatever was in his hands at Steve. Danny saw that they were Captain America trading cards, rare and old and limited edition. Some of them were stained with blood. Danny felt the familiar sting of tears behind his eyes, and blinked them away.

"We're dead in the air up here," Fury continued. "Our communications. Location of the Cube. Banner, Thor...I got nothing for you. I lost my one good eye. Maybe I had that coming." Danny could hear the pain in Fury's voice. He hadn't just lost a man, he lost his friend. Probably his best friend. As much as Danny didn't really vibe with the guy, he could understand how he felt. Fury walked around the table, towards Steve.

"Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number, though, because I was playing something even riskier." Fury sighed before continuing. "There was an idea, Stark and Fenton knew this, called the Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, to see if they could become something more. To see if they could work together when we needed them to. To fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea. In heroes."

Suddenly, Stark stood up. He hadn't said a single word so far, and he had refused to look at Fury nearly the entire time. But it looked like he had an idea. A solution, maybe. His face was unreadable. He paused for a moment, hesitating, before leaving the room completely.

Danny could understand where Fury was coming from, though. Danny had done the same thing eight months prior. If it hadn't been for the fact that it was Pariah Dark threatening their livelihoods, there are some ghosts that would have never teamed up with him, that would never have put their faith in him as their leader. Fury was right. The Avengers needed to find a common goal. A single flag to work under. Right now they were bumbling around, stepping on each other's toes cause they were all dancing to their own tunes. And it had gotten Coulson killed.

War never came without bloodshed, but Danny had hoped it hadn't been anybody he knew. A selfish part of him hoped it had been one of the many other nameless soldiers that were under Fury's thumb. Not Coulson, who was bright and warm and funny Not Coulson, compassionate and understanding. Not Coulson who had helped bring them all together.

"Well," Fury said after a moment, putting his hands behind his back. "It's an old fashioned notion."

Danny stood up, nodded to the two gentlemen, and walked out of the room, following Stark's path. It didn't take long to find him. He was in the chamber that had held Loki. The glass prison was no longer there.

"Are you okay?" He asked. Stark's head jerked towards him, but he didn't turn around. He scoffed, but there was no heat behind it.

"I can't take you seriously when you're in that getup," he said. It was an attempt at a playful jab, Danny knew, but he went ahead and turned himself back to Fenton anyway. Danny ignored the exhaustion that he felt from the strain he had put his ghost form in, and took a step forward so he was side by side with the billionaire.

"As much as I don't like it, he's right," Danny said, not looking at him. "Eight months ago, I led an army in the Ghost Zone. Pariah Dark, the old tyrant king, had woken up. And I had to lead an army to take the Zone back. We had a common goal. The threat over our afterlives, as well as out friends and family loomed over us. A lot of people...A lot of good ghosts lost their afterlives in the fight. But we won."

"How?" Tony asked. His voice was quiet, and rough. Danny sighed before continuing.

"I...I killed him. For lack of a better word, I guess. When people die, they sometimes turn into ghosts. But when ghosts die, they just...Disappear. There's no bringing them back."

"How...How did you die? How did you become a ghost?"

"I died in a lab accident. My parents had a lot of experimental ghost shit lying around, and I got caught up in all of it. And...I don't know why I became a ghost. Maybe it was due to the exposure to ghost things all my life, or maybe it was because I wasn't done on this earth yet. Ghosts are just energy and a pre-mortem conscious. They aren't done yet. Just like we're not done yet. We can still find Loki, and catch him."

"Or kill him."

"That's up to the Asgardians to decide," Danny said. "Trust me, they're more stubborn that Goldilocks."

In the eight months he had been king, Danny had been to Asgard exactly once. He had met Odin, the Allfather, and had had a formal conversation, king to king. It had been long and boring, and Danny didn't remember most of it, but he did remember that Odin was a stubborn mule.

Before Stark could reply, Steve walked in. He looked...Not apologetic, but it was somewhere in that same vein. He leaned against the railing and looked down at the floor that Thor had fallen through.

"Was he married?" Steve asked after a moment.

"No," Stark answered. "There was a, uh, cellist, I think."

"I'm sorry. He seemed like a good man."

Tony nodded, finally looking up, and at Steve. "He was an idiot."

"Why? For believing?" Steve asked, anger seeping into his voice. He didn't realize it was just Tony's defense mechanism to grief. He and Coulson had obviously known each other outside of this, and the loss hit him harder than he was willing to admit.

"For taking on Loki alone," Tony said simply as he walked backwards onto the round metal path that circled the room. He started walking towards Steve. Danny silently followed.

"He was just doing his job."

"He was out of his league," Tony scoffed. "He should have waited."

"He was trying to save Thor," Danny said. Sure, this was Tony's coping mechanism, but it wasn't a good one, or a healthy one. "If you had been there you would have done the same thing."

"Sometimes there isn't a way out, Tony," Steve said.

"Right, I've heard that before," and there was a little bit of heat behind Tony's words.

"Is this the first time you've lost a soldier?" Steve asked.

Right. He was a soldier. In a way, Danny was too. Their process of grief and death in general was warped by their experiences. Danny surrounded himself with the dead, and Steve had trudged through trenches in World War II. They processed differently than a normal person, like Tony.

"We are not soldiers," Tony said, whipping around to face Steve. His lip was trembling slightly, and he looked like he was on the verge of tears. Tony quickly closed his mouth and took a breath to steady himself. "I'm not marching to Fury's fife."

"Neither am I," Steve said. "He's got the same blood on his hands that Loki does."

"Right now we have to put that behind us," Danny said. "Loki is still out there, we need to hurry and get this done."

"He needs a power source," Steve continued. "If we can put together a list-"

"-He made it personal," Tony interrupted.

"That's not the point."

"That is the point. That's Loki's point. He hit us all right where we live. Why?"

"To tear us apart," Danny answered.

"Yeah, divide and conquer is great...But he knows he has to take us out to win, right? That's what he wants. He wants to beat us, he wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience?"

"Just like in Germany," Danny said.

"That's just previews, this is opening night. And Loki, he's a full tilt diva, right? He wants flowers, he wants parades. He wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered…"

He paused, and Danny and Steve looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to continue. He obviously hit a home run in his head.

"Son of a bitch," Tony said. "I know where he's going."

* * *

As Steve went to go get Natasha and Barton, who Danny really wanted to talk too, he helped Tony fix his suit and make it battle ready.

"Where did you learn engineering?" He asked.

"My parents were scientists," Danny replied. "Lab accident, remember?"

"Yeah, but you said it was all ghost stuff."

"It still has a foundation of regular science, Tony."

"Done." Tony took his helmet off of its stand and put it on, along with the rest of the suit. Danny had finished the arm he had been working on by the time Tony was done with everything else. He handed it over, and transformed into Phantom as Tony locked it into place.

"We're having a serious conversation about this later," he told Danny.

"Yeah, yeah, let's just go already."

* * *

Flying through the air was like heaven, and even better now that he had a companion by his side. Tony's boot jets flickered with power due to the quick fix, but it would get the job done.

He and Tony made it to Stark Tower in a matter of minutes. Steve had already gotten Natasha and Barton, and had left shortly after them.

On top of the Tower stood Eric Selvig. He was standing at a computer that was next to a large device that had the Cube stuck into it. Danny charged up his hands with green energy as Tony spoke.

"Shut it down, Dr. Selvig," he said.

"It's too late!" He shouted almost gleefully before turning back to the machine. "She can't stop now. She wants to show us something! A new universe."

"Okay," Iron Man said, charging up his hands. He blasted the machine, but a force field took the energy from it and sent it right back at Tony, throwing him back several feet. Danny lunged forward and tried to make his intangible hand go through the force field, but it was no use. The barrier was pure energy. There was no way he was getting through.

"Danny, I'm going inside, I have a visitor."

Danny turned invisible and looked over the side of the building. Tony was walking inside, his suit being taken apart as he did so. Loki was watching Tony carefully as he too walked inside, scepter in hand. Danny slipped through undetected, watching closely.

"Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity," Loki said as they both stepped inside.

"Actually, I'm planning to threaten you," Tony said matter-of-factly. He walked down the stairs and behind the bar.

"You should have left your armor on for that," Loki said.

"Yeah," Tony agreed. "It's seen a bit of mileage. You like a drink?"

"Stalling me won't change anything," Loki said with a cruel smile.

"No, no, no," Stark said. "Threatening. No drink? You sure? I'm having one."

"The Chitari are coming. Nothing will change that. What have I to fear?"

"The Avengers," Tony said simply as he poured himself a small glass of whiskey. At Loki's confused look, Tony moved onto explain. "It's what we call ourselves. We're sort of like a team. "Earth's Mightiest Heroes type thing."

"Yes, I've met them," Loki sounded almost amused.

"Yeah," Tony said with a smile, but Danny could hear the bitterness in his voice. "It takes us a while to get any traction, I'll give you that one. But let's do a headcount here. Your brother, the demigod. A super soldier, living legend." Danny watched as Stark discreetly put two bracelets on, keeping Loki busy with his words. "He kind of lives up to the legend part. A man with breathtaking anger management issues, a couple of master assassins, and the king of the dead, and you, big fella, managed to piss off every single one of them."

"That was the plan."

"Not a great plan. When they come, and they will, they'll come for you."

"I have an army."

"We have a Hulk."

"I thought the beast had wandered off."

"You're missing the point here. There is no throne, there is no version of this, where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes, and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you. Because if we can't protect the Earth you can be damned sure we'll avenge it."

Danny flew a bit closer, just as Loki took a step closer towards Tony. Like lightning, Loki blasted Danny back with the scepter. Danny lost his invisibility as he hit the wall and fell into the bar. He groaned, letting know Tony was still alive. His chest burned from the impact of the magic.

"How will your friends have time for me when they're so busy fighting you?"

Danny used the counter to help himself stand. His head looked over, just as Loki placed the tip of his spear on Tony's chest. It made a tink noise, and Tony shrugged his shoulders. Loki tried it once more.

"This usually works."

"Well, performance issues, it's not uncommon," Tony said casually. "One out of five-"

He was interrupted by Loki grabbing the bottom of his face and throwing him to the ground.

"Jarvis, anytime now," Danny heard him say. He was getting back to his feet. Danny was already on his. He sent a blast towards Loki, but it was blocked by the same kind of energy shield that was around the Tesseract.

Loki gripped Tony's face again. Danny hopped over the counter, his chest still aching.

"Deploy!" Tony shouted, sounding almost desperate. He shouted it one more time as Loki threw him out the window.

A large suit of armor followed Tony out. Danny lunged at Loki. He managed to get in a few good hits with his powers before Tony, in a new suit, flew back up to the window.

"And there's one other person you pissed off," he said, charging up his hands once more. "His name was Phil."

Danny took the distraction provided by Stark to land a powerful ecto-charged punch to Loki's face, knocking him to the ground.

Just as Loki hit the ground, there was a loud boom. Danny and Tony shared a look before flying out through the window, and looking up at the sky directly above them. The machine the Tesseract was in was sending a beam straight up into the sky. It warped the endless blue and the clouds, as a massive portal to space opened.

The Chitari were here.


	8. Chapter 8

As soon as the portal was wide enough, several bug-looking aliens flew out. Both Danny and Tony launched themselves into the sky, blasting at the enemies.

Both of them took down dozens in just a matter of seconds, but more and more kept flying through. They weren't able to stop all of them.

Danny shot several with both ice and ectoblasts, earning the attention of several of them. He flew away, and as he had hoped, they followed him. Danny weaved in between the unfamiliar city, taking sharp turns and phasing through roads as he did so, making several of them knock themselves out.

The more that he destroyed, however, the more they were replaced. Soon he had a tail of about fifteen or so trailing after him. Once he was sure he was far enough away from them, he stopped in midair and whirled around, throwing up a large shield. One by one they all ran into it, as they hadn't had enough reaction time to slow down or stop.

The debris rained down on the destroyed road. Danny dropped down, looking around. There were several civilians trying to hid in their cars or under awnings. Danny helped a couple that was trapped in their vehicle and led them and the others inside to avoid the falling debris around them. It looked like the aliens were just shooting randomly, trying to cause as much destruction as they could. If Danny could help divert their attention, they would focus on trying to shoot him instead.

Once Danny had gotten more civilians secured, he took off into the air again. He quickly saw a familiar ship with familiar people inside. It crashed into a building before heading towards the ground. Danny shot up and caught the underneath of it, digging his hands into the metal. It warped under his touch, allowing him to get a more solid grip. He practically stopped it in midair before setting it down gently.

He walked around the back, where Steve, Natasha, and Barton walked out.

"Glad to see you're alive," he said, looking at Barton. "What took you guys so long?"

"Never mind that," Steve said, looking around at the carnage. "We gotta get back up there."

But before they could, they heard a long, loud groaning sound. It was a sort of mix between mechanical and organic, and it sounded absolutely haunting.

A large, whale type alien with spike all over its back swam through the portal. It circled the beam shooting up into the sky before flying right over them. As it did so, sparks flea from the side of it, and with it several more Chitari foot soldiers jumped out, latching onto the walls of buildings.

Maybe he should call Dani in for this one.

Just moments after it flew over them, several other ones on riders came flying through. Danny flew under them, providing a shield for the blasts to hit, versus the civilians they would have hit otherwise. During this he realized Loki was with one of them.

Once they lifted off, Danny dropped the shield he had been holding. He whirled around to see Steve running towards him, the road being blasted behind him. He sent another shield out to follow Steve as he herded civilians inside.

Danny held the shield over Cap until he made it to the cops that had made a barricade at the closest intersection.

"Well, we've got its attention," Tony said over the comms.

"Got what's attention?" Danny asked as he blasted a few aliens away. Once he got the civilians on this street secured, he made his way back to Natasha and Barton. A moment later Steve joined them in the fight.

Out of nowhere, all of the aliens around them dropped as blue lightning coarsed through them. A moment later, Thor landed down, looking dirty and in pain.

"What's the story upstairs?" Steve asked him.

"The power surrounding the Cube is impenetrable."

"Thor's right, we gotta deal with these guys," Tony said.

"How do we do this?" Natasha asked.

"As a team," Steve answered.

"I have unfinished business with Loki," Thor said.

"Get in line," Clint shot back, adjusting one of his arrow heads.

"We all do, but our main focus needs to be the portal," Danny said. "If we can cut the portal off, we can focus on taking the rest down and Loki."

Steve opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but before he could, the motor of an old, beat up motorcycle distracted them. They all turned around to face a very dirty, sheepish Bruce Banner. How he had managed to drive through the debris and panic without getting hit, he would never know. Danny and the others walked towards him as he got off the bike.

"So, this all seems horrible," he said.

"I've seen worse," Natasha said, looking Bruce up and down skeptically.

"Sorry," he said.

"No, we could use a little worse right now."

"Stark. We got him," Steve said into the comms.

"Banner?"

"Yeah, just like you said."

"Then tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you guys."

A moment later Tony came flying around the corner, the large whale-like alien at his heels. Thor grit his teeth, and Natasha looked up nervously. Danny's hands glowed with energy.

"I don't see how that's a party."

Tony led the thing into the ground, but it didn't stop. It didn't even slow down. Banner looked at all of them, before walking towards the incoming beast.

"Now might be a really good time to get angry," Steve told him as he walked away.

"That's my secret, Cap," Bruce said as he casually started walking towards the whale. "I'm always angry."

Then, right before their eyes, Bruce Banner grew. He grew and grew, and turned green along the way. His clothes ripped from the strain. As he transformed, he pulled his large arm back.

And as soon as he had finished, the alien was on top of them. Hulk sent out a massive punch. It dented the front of the alien's armor and skull. The back end of it was lifted into the air by the momentum. Danny placed a shield over all of them as armor broke off and fell.

The monster, dead from one punch, fell face first into another street, completely still. The aliens on the wall screeched in anger at them, and Danny lowered his shield. He was slightly more surprised by the amount of confidence Bruce held in that single punch, and very impressed.

Hulk roared back at them as they all sort of huddled in a circle, back to back, knocking arrows and creating a long ice sword.

They watched in horror as more whale aliens swam out of the portal. Danny gripped his sword tightly as Tony told Steve to call it.

"All right, listen up," he said. "Until we can close that portal up, our priority is containment. Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark, you got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or you turn it to ash."

"Wanna give me a lift?" Barton asked. Stark nodded, called him Legalos, and flew them both up into the air. Danny could understand why everybody followed Steve now. You just couldn't not do it.

"Thor, Phantom, you gotta try and bottleneck that portal. Slow them down. You got the lightning and the ghost powers. Take 'em down."

Danny and Thor nodded, and they took off into the air together.

More and more whale-sized aliens emerged from the portal. Once Danny was high and close enough, he swung his sword through the air.

A massive wave of ice and ectoenergy cut through the air, tearing two of the whales in half, and taking several smaller riders with them. Thor looks almost impressed.

"Truly the king of ghosts indeed," he said. "But watch this." Thor leapt and perched himself on a tall building. He spun his hammer around furiously, and Danny could see the lightning crackling around it. Storm clouds that hadn't been there before rolled over them, turning the sky dark. Once his hammer was charged up, Thor sent a massive bolt of lightning straight at the portal. Danny had to use a shield to not be effected by it.

It killed a whale, and blocked another one from coming out. Danny flew up and sent his ice towards them. He could use the whales as a sort of base for the plug.

Both attacks did virtually nothing. The hole was too big for his ice. More and more whales came through, as well as riders. One of the whales managed to clip Danny with the end of its tail, and it sent up shooting into another building.

Danny crashed through three floors before finally stopping. Several scared civilians looked down at him as he slowly got back up. But as he did so, he saw a rather large whale just right outside the window. He ran and threw himself through the windows, managing to grab onto a couple of it's long, sharp teeth. He forced the beast down head first into the streets.

As he did this, he blasted the inside of the beast's mouth through the top of its head, killing it. It fell to the ground with a large rumble.

He flew back up, blasting aliens off the side of the building as he did so, before going for another whale. Those were their biggest problems, and were going to cause the most amount of damage. They could take down entire buildings, so Danny had to be smart about this.

He flew, blasting at it head on. It opened its large mouth and snapped him in. Danny was disgusted, but didn't alter as it's tongue tried to force Danny down its throat. He opened up his own mouth and screamed.

The effect was immediate. The things was torn apart form the inside out as Danny used his Ghostly Wail. He only stopped when he could see the bright blue sky again.

He flew onto the next one.

He continued his war on the whales. Danny eventually found a surefire way to take them down. They were huge and fast, but they were also kind of dumb. Danny would float either on top of its head or just below it, and send a large spike of ice through it. They fell to the ground, or in the water with Danny's guidance.

As he did this he also blasted riders, or made sure that they went down with the ship. This process seemed to last for ages. Through every blast that Danny himself took, and every scrape and bruise, he thought of Dash.

He really hoped he survived this. This was new. This was an alien invasion. This was an Asgardian demigod throwing a tantrum because he didn't get enough attention as a child. This was...Unpredictable, and he had no idea if any of them were going to make it out alive. He should have called Dash before this fight, He should have told him he loved him more, before he left with Coulson. He should have hugged him a little longer, appreciated the nights they had together a little more. He should have-

The breath left Danny's lungs as he was thrown into the street. He had let himself get distracted, and had paid the price for it. The impact had created a small crater. Everything hurt, and he was a little dizzy, but otherwise okay.

He groaned as he pulled himself out of the hole. He swayed slightly, but managed to stay on his feet. He needed to focus. He loved Dash, but he couldn't think of him right now. He needed to fight. Because he wasn't just fighting for him, or for the city. He was fighting to avenge the death of Coulson. And if they didn't win, then it would have all been in vain, and Danny was not about to let that happen.

He quickly blasted the four foot soldiers that tried ganging up on them. He two, and sliced the other two with a sword he made mid swing. Panting, and trying to hold back throughts of the war against Pariah and his loving husband, he dropped down to one knee. The exhaustion was taking over. They had been fighting for a long time, on top of the sleep Danny hadn't gotten in the two days he's been with S.H.I.E.L.D. But he couldn't stop now. He had to keep going.

With more effort than he was willing to admit, he got back up on his feet. "What's the status?"

 _"I think Romanoff is trying to close the portal,"_ Tony said.

"Good. I'm ready for a nap."

 _"I can close it,_ " Natasha said. _"Can anybody copy? I can close the portal down."_

 _"Do it!"_ Steve shouted in his ear.

 _"No, wait!"_ It was Tony. _"I've got a nuke coming in, it's gonna blow in less than a minute. And I know just where to put it."_

Danny took off into the air once more as Steve's words rang in their ears.

"Stark. You know that's a one-way trip."

But it didn't have to be.

Danny saw Tony come up, flying along the beam that created the portal. Danny rushed forward, following him. He could survive in space. Tony couldn't. But Tony was so far ahead of them now. He couldn't do a hand off, but he could catch Tony when he let go of the nuke.

Tony went through the portal, and nearly thirty seconds later, Danny went through it as well.

"Phantom, what are you doing?" Steve asked. His voice cut in and out, a sign that Danny was much too far.

He saw Tony's silhouette falling as the rocket blew up the alien army. The portal was closing quickly. They weren't going to make it.

Danny caught Tony with one hand, finding a perch in his armor, and created a portal with the other, right in front of the one that was closing. Danny took Tony through it, just as the blast reached them.

They had been sort of free falling in space, and Danny hadn't wanted to do that on Earth. He had opened up the portal closer to the ground, but misjudged how close it actually was. The answer was too close, in Danny't opinion, but thanks to Hulk's sharp reflexes, both men were caught and brought down to the ground.

"Is he breathing?" Steve asked him as he knelt down next to Tony. Danny stood up, kneeling over Cap as he ripped Tony's face mask off. Hulk was on the other side. He didn't let Danny answer before roaring into Tony's face, jerking the billionaire awake.

They did it.

They had won.


	9. Chapter 9

After passing Loki off to S.H.I.E.L.D. and securing the Tesseract, they went out to eat. Tony had mentioned schwarma, which is something none of them have ever heard of. Apparently Tony saw the sign for it when he was being thrown into the adjacent building.

Since they had saved the city, and possibly the world, the owners gave them all food for free.

They sat around quietly for a long time, just listening to the sound of the old TV in the corner, and resting their tired muscles.

"Aren't you going to transform back?" Steve asked him. Danny shrugged and threw his napkin on the table. For the first time in years he could say he was full. He's pretty sure he ate his weight in schwarma.

"If I do I'll probably pass out. My human form is effected from how much power I use in my ghost form. Plus, I still need it to get home, so, y'know."

"Oh, back with the other ghosts?" Tony asked him..

"Nah, that's just where I rule. I have an apartment in Amity with my husband."

The casualty of the statement made Tony nearly spit his food out, and Danny wholeheartedly laughed at him. It hurt his whole body to do so, but he didn't care.

And apparently, neither did anybody else. Not even Steve. They were all too tired, and a little out of it from he long fight they had just had.

Once they were done with everything, they thanked the owners for the free meal (though Tony tipped _generously)_ and headed out.

"What now?" He asked.

"Now, Barton and I will check in with Fury," Natasha said. "Give a report. You guys go home, take a nap, all that jazz."

"Fine with me," Danny replied. He held out his hand, and Natasha and Clint shook it, as did Steve. But Thor gripped his forearm, which Danny returned wholeheartedly.

"I had my doubts about you, ghost. I'm glad to call you an ally of both Midgard and Asgard."

"And Asgard will always have help from the Ghost Zone if you need it," Danny said, completely unoffended. He didn't doubt Thor had trouble with Danny in the beginning. Not when his only experience prior to him had been Pariah Dark.

He held out his hand for Tony, but Tony gave him a fist bump instead.

"When you get the chance, you should swing by the tower," he told Danny. "I'd love to talk about ghosts with you."

"Yeah, will do. You can get my number from Barton."

And with that, Danny opened a portal and flew through it.

* * *

Dash had been gnawing at his fingernails for hours while he watched the Battle of New York. They had won. But where was Danny? Was he okay? Was he hurt? Was he stuck in the Zone, or at S.H.I.E.L.D? Why hadn't he called?

But before Dash could gnaw through his whole hand, a green portal appeared, and a very beat up and dusty looking Danny appeared. He smiled tiredly at Dash, who rushed forward and pulled his husband into a bone crushing hug. He only stopped when Danny tapped on his shoulder.

"Sorry, I'm kind of bruised around the ribs," he said, his green eyes twinkling. He closed the portal and pulled Dash down for a kiss.

"Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine," Danny answered with a smile. "Now come on. When I transform I'm gonna pass out, and I want you in bed with me."

There were no arguments from Dash.

Two days later, Danny had been called to new York to make sure Loki was transferred safely. He went in civilian clothes. Dash, who had been clingy over the past two days, much to Danny's benefit, decided to come with him.

Danny flipped Loki off as Thor headed into the sky with Thor. A large, circular design was left in their wake, and Tony walked over, clapping a hand on his shoulder.

"Oh, he's cute," Tony whispered. Danny shoved him off and rolled his eyes. Tony just laughed. "You two wanna come over? Banner will be joining us."

"Wasn't it trashed by the aliens?" Danny asked him.

"Yeah. But Pepper will be there, and she's excited to meet my new super friends."

"Or this is just a ploy for you to pester Dash."

"We would love to come," Dash said, holding his hand out towards Tony, who shook it. "Dash Baxter-Fenton, at your service. And I would love to talk about Danny."

"Oh," Tony said, turning to Danny. "I like him." Danny sighed, as he was outnumbered in the second hand embarrassment that was about to befall him.

"Yeah," Danny said with a small smile. " I do too."


End file.
